Andy—thank you for including my writing in your article this week. At the time, leaving Instagram truly felt like a monumental decision. Fast forward nearly a year, and it was indeed one of the simplest things I've ever done, with the most profound impact on my life and well-being. I've never felt more present, both as an individual and as a photographer. I'd encourage anyone who doesn't rely on the platform for income to take the plunge. I've discovered a handful of genuinely thoughtful and inspiring writers here on Substack where I can focus my attention, and I've traded the time I once spent with thousands of Instagram "friends" for more meaningful moments with the people in my real life who truly matter and actively show up.
IG is required. Though for me at least, rules around usage are also required. Like many artists, I need uninterrupted time to create, think, and be silent. There is no other way to create something meaningful. If social media has unrestricted access to me, I fail. The good news is I can silence my devices and shut them in a drawer anytime I like. I like to think I'm getting better at this;-)
I started a Substack yesterday because there's a lot of things I want to share that are beyond early Punk Rock history. I was very encouraged by your talk when people said 1920x1080 images display fine.
BUT I gotta say this: NO ONE has ever reached out to me about any photos that ppl post on social OTHER than Facebook!!
I get no traction from people posting my photos on IG, Bluesky, X, tumblr, etc, although they have tens of thousands of followers.
I get FAR more action when I send out rare email newsletters. FACEBOOK is my best platform cos that's where my punk photo fans hang out. So many are IN my photos. So when they share, my photos mean something to their fans.
And I can reach out to rock writers, some I know, others who love my work, and ask them to share info. THAT works out better than posting on all the social sites.
Word of mouth is the key for my photos. Hmm ...
I frankly dunno how people know my work. I once had a Black Friday sale. Sold ALL over Europe! Norway! Scotland! Italy! France!
BUT the downside now are HIGH postal rates. They can pay as much for a print as postage! OR if I don't offer signed prints, I can print in Europe and save lots of postage costs.
Another reason I'm also working on my membership club. Costs money to do what I'm doing! Even if just for all the many apps and hardware needed. Plus the time, decades of time.
I just found and installed "Send by Elementor," the easiest, coolest email newsletter service for WordPress users.
SO MANY crap email newsletter providers! THAT will be a Substack post. (I just posted that on FB.)
I haven't and dunno if/when I will make a Substack header image or any of the other varied sized images. THAT IS WHY I HATE IG AND FB!!! And Thinkific and Teachable and Ghost and so on.
They ALL expect US to merely crop our photos to fit certain sizes and proportions. OH yeah? NOT happening to my photos!!
I keep reminding myself to put my images in THE MIDDLE of the 1920x1080. This trained fine artist and graphic artist thinks of basic design principles. Balancing where the copy goes vs the image.
I add copy cos I AM BEYOND PISSED OFF AND FED UP that people misidentify WHO, what, where, when of my HISTORICAL photos!!! And of course, not bothering to mention my name or putting it in the text only.
I even created images with text on the sides(s) to be easily downloaded via Google Drive or my site. NO excuses to post CRAPPY versions of my published work all over the net. LAZY POS!
A week ago I sent DMCAs cos of Punk Rock History on bluesky, X and tumblr cos they REFUSE to use my approved photos. I talked to them for YEARS!!
So now they know not to post my pix. Ok, so their following is 80K!!! BUT NO ONE has ever reached out to me about any photos they posted!! They tended to be rathe snarky for the ske of being snarky.
So yeah, I have more work to create and think like arrogant programmers who don't care about artful compositions. They rather we jump around redesigning images JUST for their headers, their social media images, one for within a post and one as a post preview, and on and on.
I am doing minimal work on that!
I want to share my journey. Dealing with tech. Plus some things about photography. Esp facts like we DO color correct "black and white" photos because they really are not b/w. They are grayscale.
(People really do question me when I say I need to color correct images they claim are black/white. Hmm ... even those are colors. We get black/white paints, crayons, pencils, right??)
A lot of thoughts that arise from dealing with people and my photos that I'd love to share. From color correction to pricing when licensing photos. The importance of being very clear about our costs and fees. And holding firm when people want to license photos for books, docs, mags, etc but refuse to provide specs.
Mostly just about my journey. Plus misconceptions about what went on behind my photos. Like life in mid to late 70s. VERY different than now. Not so divisive politically and racially. LOW LOW cost of living. Affordable housing. Plentiful jobs. Cheap gas and airline tickets.
And many joyful memories. Plus some scary, sad times. But I wanna focus on the good stuff. Like my adventures with Iggy. Hanging with Dee Dee Ramone, while taking my first ever photos of real people and live rock bands! Flying to England to shoot THE CLASH!
AND share Before and After photos of crap slides and the magic of LIGHTROOM. No auto features. No overt AI. AI IN the tools, not prompts or expecting AI to do the work! NOT MY ART!
I like color correcting by using my skills and software doing what I've wanted it to do since 1980! Bringing life back into my images that I know I captured. Magical times!
Time to share the Magic!
The many things going on in my head will result in what people see and read.
I don't expect a lot of readers. But quality is always more vital to me than quantity.
Dunno if any of this resonates with anyone here. Just one LA woman's journey into the darkness of tech, social and early punk rock, when punk was fun!
Just posted with images on my Substack. With big ol' text linking back to you, Andy!! Oh yeah, I'm glad to share your links and great work! Thank you for all you do!!
Andy - Greatly appreciate your continuing to bring this topic up, and also noting per "damn these algorithms" that I was encouraged to reply by seeing this post on Foto app (more on that later).
I am also, like some commenters, slowly weaning myself off of Instagram, but finding it hard to shake it. The real issue, to my mind, is actually quite simple. Instagram has become the curator and gatekeeper for artistic fame, credibility and the financial and personal gain that goes with it in ways that are not matched by any other traditional art forms (more on that later too).
For a number of years I taught social media and marketing and the seminal text I used with students was Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody”. Shirky’s thesis, which I accepted wholeheartedly at the time, was that now that media and distribution was owned by “everybody”, everyone could see new truths, information and creative work without the need of editors, gatekeepers or government controlled platforms that hid these things from us all. And it worked for a while, an explosion of new ways of distributing images led to new discoveries, a renaissance for photographic vision and new image makers finding their way to public attention. But then it rapidly fell upon itself with the need for constant advertising and profit which led to ever more tools and gatekeeping methods to ensure that as many people as possible would return to the platform. Leading to a general lowering of quality of experience, standards and creative energy. Cory Doctorow explains this much better than I can in his essay “The Enshittification of TikTok”.
But other traditional art forms, literature, painting, sculpture etc. have generally do not have to face curation by algorithm. Sure artists may market themselves on social media, but if you write fiction your gatekeeping and curation work in the old fashioned way: You submit to journals or magazines, you get a short story published, you get an agent and maybe you get published. Sure, its a system that is full of favoritism and corruption. And no one can accuse publishers of not having a profit motive. But ultimately I’m beginning to feel that this old school method leads to better and higher quality outcomes.
And I get that this sounds elitist, but this is where the issues you and Michael Wriston have raised in “Where’s Your Community” really come to a head. The communities that exist on Instagram are built on the foundation of an algorithmic curation that takes advantage of our own need for approval and positive curation (and profit) that is slowly rotting at the core. The only advantage the platforms hold that keeps us there is that “everybody” is there. Foto, Glass and other apps will not be able to build communities in the same way because the critical mass does not, yet, exist exactly because they mute the possibility of algorithmic gatekeeping. We have to do the hard work of community building ourselves and if we stick with it I believe that ultimately the quality and experience will be much better.
I had a really great community in Chicago. We’d all meet regularly, for coffee to take a break from the cold, or a long walk. Talk endlessly about photography, what we were working on, family, life. In Miami, it’s been more difficult as I don’t make portraits of people at the beach. That’s anathema to my soul🤣. That said, I’m not great with social media. I do however enjoy Glass, and FB- as that’s where I met many people online that gave me my first few opportunities. IG is a corporate hellscape. I’ll put up a story now and again, but it’s more akin to tying my shoelaces, something I mindlessly do. I am however enjoying the people I follow here.
Really interesting breakdown. I think Instagram is still a go to platform for lots of brands and creators. But a true photography community who cares about the art and photography itself I think is forever gone. But substack has been a lovely alternative IMO
I was always surprised that Flickr didn't do a better job to capture the social media moment so many years ago. For some reason, that app never took for me. Most of the people that I'm connected to don't use it.
IG, at least my feed, is completely overrun by reels and ads. Photog community? Where? And how would I ever see new & interesting post when the effing algorithm *completely* buries them all? IG is useless, threads gets zero traction, bluesky is most definitely not a place for art, not-twitter is naziland. That leaves FB, which is severely problematic and infuriating, but at least I can find and participate in photography and other communities I care about.
I remember a very, very long time ago when someone was explaining social media to me (a guru, I'm sure) and they said it was like a big cocktail party.
You walk in and you can stroll up to a group already engaged in a conversation. You add some value and the conversation grows. But if you walk up to a group chatting about food and someone says (loudly), "Hey, speaking of food, I have a restaurant and here's 25% off if you go today!" you're going to be bounced or at the very least ignored.
That was the old days. Today, the scroll is Food, Football, Photography, Funeral Homes, Fantasy Games roughly in that order.
The algorithm is good but that's where ads come in.
I don't know of a future where art is served by social media for more than 3.76 seconds.
The days of gallery walking are gone.
We, the Creatives, need to work to reset that narrative...if we can.
Thank you for this Andy! It is so great to read posts like this, and everyone's comments. You all put words to my intuition.
I stopped posting regularly on IG in 2022 without really knowing why. Slow quiting is the term nowdays. I am on other platforms, but the truth is I am tired of all algorithmic feeds (and apparently I am not the only one.)
Art deserves authentic connections, conversation and community. Perhaps Substack or Photo can rise to the occasion. We shall see. Cheers to all those who are being conscientious with their time online!
I still use Instagram to like and comment on posts, direct message contacts, and make the occasional post.
As a nude (non-explicit, non-sexual) photographer, sharing my work on social media is challenging because of censorship. In the past, Facebook banned me twice, both times for posting images with male nipples. There was no way to appeal.
So, in late 2018, rather than wasting my time battling with social media posts, I channeled my energy into publishing an artistic nude photography digital magazine to share my work freely and without censorship. I invited a few photographer friends to join me. And that’s how I got started. Seven years later, the magazine is still going strong, with 76 issues published. That’s over 4900 pages all produced by me, with contributions from around the world.
While I love seeing photos is print, the cost and logistics of producing a printed magazine are prohibitive, especially the cost of postage and issues with customs duty. So, I produce a print-ready PDF of every magazine that contributors can download and run off hard copies for personal and non-commercial use.
Andy—thank you for including my writing in your article this week. At the time, leaving Instagram truly felt like a monumental decision. Fast forward nearly a year, and it was indeed one of the simplest things I've ever done, with the most profound impact on my life and well-being. I've never felt more present, both as an individual and as a photographer. I'd encourage anyone who doesn't rely on the platform for income to take the plunge. I've discovered a handful of genuinely thoughtful and inspiring writers here on Substack where I can focus my attention, and I've traded the time I once spent with thousands of Instagram "friends" for more meaningful moments with the people in my real life who truly matter and actively show up.
IG is required. Though for me at least, rules around usage are also required. Like many artists, I need uninterrupted time to create, think, and be silent. There is no other way to create something meaningful. If social media has unrestricted access to me, I fail. The good news is I can silence my devices and shut them in a drawer anytime I like. I like to think I'm getting better at this;-)
I started a Substack yesterday because there's a lot of things I want to share that are beyond early Punk Rock history. I was very encouraged by your talk when people said 1920x1080 images display fine.
BUT I gotta say this: NO ONE has ever reached out to me about any photos that ppl post on social OTHER than Facebook!!
I get no traction from people posting my photos on IG, Bluesky, X, tumblr, etc, although they have tens of thousands of followers.
I get FAR more action when I send out rare email newsletters. FACEBOOK is my best platform cos that's where my punk photo fans hang out. So many are IN my photos. So when they share, my photos mean something to their fans.
And I can reach out to rock writers, some I know, others who love my work, and ask them to share info. THAT works out better than posting on all the social sites.
Word of mouth is the key for my photos. Hmm ...
I frankly dunno how people know my work. I once had a Black Friday sale. Sold ALL over Europe! Norway! Scotland! Italy! France!
BUT the downside now are HIGH postal rates. They can pay as much for a print as postage! OR if I don't offer signed prints, I can print in Europe and save lots of postage costs.
Another reason I'm also working on my membership club. Costs money to do what I'm doing! Even if just for all the many apps and hardware needed. Plus the time, decades of time.
I just found and installed "Send by Elementor," the easiest, coolest email newsletter service for WordPress users.
SO MANY crap email newsletter providers! THAT will be a Substack post. (I just posted that on FB.)
I haven't and dunno if/when I will make a Substack header image or any of the other varied sized images. THAT IS WHY I HATE IG AND FB!!! And Thinkific and Teachable and Ghost and so on.
They ALL expect US to merely crop our photos to fit certain sizes and proportions. OH yeah? NOT happening to my photos!!
I keep reminding myself to put my images in THE MIDDLE of the 1920x1080. This trained fine artist and graphic artist thinks of basic design principles. Balancing where the copy goes vs the image.
I add copy cos I AM BEYOND PISSED OFF AND FED UP that people misidentify WHO, what, where, when of my HISTORICAL photos!!! And of course, not bothering to mention my name or putting it in the text only.
I even created images with text on the sides(s) to be easily downloaded via Google Drive or my site. NO excuses to post CRAPPY versions of my published work all over the net. LAZY POS!
A week ago I sent DMCAs cos of Punk Rock History on bluesky, X and tumblr cos they REFUSE to use my approved photos. I talked to them for YEARS!!
So now they know not to post my pix. Ok, so their following is 80K!!! BUT NO ONE has ever reached out to me about any photos they posted!! They tended to be rathe snarky for the ske of being snarky.
So yeah, I have more work to create and think like arrogant programmers who don't care about artful compositions. They rather we jump around redesigning images JUST for their headers, their social media images, one for within a post and one as a post preview, and on and on.
I am doing minimal work on that!
I want to share my journey. Dealing with tech. Plus some things about photography. Esp facts like we DO color correct "black and white" photos because they really are not b/w. They are grayscale.
(People really do question me when I say I need to color correct images they claim are black/white. Hmm ... even those are colors. We get black/white paints, crayons, pencils, right??)
A lot of thoughts that arise from dealing with people and my photos that I'd love to share. From color correction to pricing when licensing photos. The importance of being very clear about our costs and fees. And holding firm when people want to license photos for books, docs, mags, etc but refuse to provide specs.
Mostly just about my journey. Plus misconceptions about what went on behind my photos. Like life in mid to late 70s. VERY different than now. Not so divisive politically and racially. LOW LOW cost of living. Affordable housing. Plentiful jobs. Cheap gas and airline tickets.
And many joyful memories. Plus some scary, sad times. But I wanna focus on the good stuff. Like my adventures with Iggy. Hanging with Dee Dee Ramone, while taking my first ever photos of real people and live rock bands! Flying to England to shoot THE CLASH!
AND share Before and After photos of crap slides and the magic of LIGHTROOM. No auto features. No overt AI. AI IN the tools, not prompts or expecting AI to do the work! NOT MY ART!
I like color correcting by using my skills and software doing what I've wanted it to do since 1980! Bringing life back into my images that I know I captured. Magical times!
Time to share the Magic!
The many things going on in my head will result in what people see and read.
I don't expect a lot of readers. But quality is always more vital to me than quantity.
Dunno if any of this resonates with anyone here. Just one LA woman's journey into the darkness of tech, social and early punk rock, when punk was fun!
Just posted with images on my Substack. With big ol' text linking back to you, Andy!! Oh yeah, I'm glad to share your links and great work! Thank you for all you do!!
Andy - Greatly appreciate your continuing to bring this topic up, and also noting per "damn these algorithms" that I was encouraged to reply by seeing this post on Foto app (more on that later).
I am also, like some commenters, slowly weaning myself off of Instagram, but finding it hard to shake it. The real issue, to my mind, is actually quite simple. Instagram has become the curator and gatekeeper for artistic fame, credibility and the financial and personal gain that goes with it in ways that are not matched by any other traditional art forms (more on that later too).
For a number of years I taught social media and marketing and the seminal text I used with students was Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody”. Shirky’s thesis, which I accepted wholeheartedly at the time, was that now that media and distribution was owned by “everybody”, everyone could see new truths, information and creative work without the need of editors, gatekeepers or government controlled platforms that hid these things from us all. And it worked for a while, an explosion of new ways of distributing images led to new discoveries, a renaissance for photographic vision and new image makers finding their way to public attention. But then it rapidly fell upon itself with the need for constant advertising and profit which led to ever more tools and gatekeeping methods to ensure that as many people as possible would return to the platform. Leading to a general lowering of quality of experience, standards and creative energy. Cory Doctorow explains this much better than I can in his essay “The Enshittification of TikTok”.
But other traditional art forms, literature, painting, sculpture etc. have generally do not have to face curation by algorithm. Sure artists may market themselves on social media, but if you write fiction your gatekeeping and curation work in the old fashioned way: You submit to journals or magazines, you get a short story published, you get an agent and maybe you get published. Sure, its a system that is full of favoritism and corruption. And no one can accuse publishers of not having a profit motive. But ultimately I’m beginning to feel that this old school method leads to better and higher quality outcomes.
And I get that this sounds elitist, but this is where the issues you and Michael Wriston have raised in “Where’s Your Community” really come to a head. The communities that exist on Instagram are built on the foundation of an algorithmic curation that takes advantage of our own need for approval and positive curation (and profit) that is slowly rotting at the core. The only advantage the platforms hold that keeps us there is that “everybody” is there. Foto, Glass and other apps will not be able to build communities in the same way because the critical mass does not, yet, exist exactly because they mute the possibility of algorithmic gatekeeping. We have to do the hard work of community building ourselves and if we stick with it I believe that ultimately the quality and experience will be much better.
I had a really great community in Chicago. We’d all meet regularly, for coffee to take a break from the cold, or a long walk. Talk endlessly about photography, what we were working on, family, life. In Miami, it’s been more difficult as I don’t make portraits of people at the beach. That’s anathema to my soul🤣. That said, I’m not great with social media. I do however enjoy Glass, and FB- as that’s where I met many people online that gave me my first few opportunities. IG is a corporate hellscape. I’ll put up a story now and again, but it’s more akin to tying my shoelaces, something I mindlessly do. I am however enjoying the people I follow here.
Really interesting breakdown. I think Instagram is still a go to platform for lots of brands and creators. But a true photography community who cares about the art and photography itself I think is forever gone. But substack has been a lovely alternative IMO
There is only one place to see photographs from every photo genre imaginable and that of course is Flickr.
I was always surprised that Flickr didn't do a better job to capture the social media moment so many years ago. For some reason, that app never took for me. Most of the people that I'm connected to don't use it.
IG, at least my feed, is completely overrun by reels and ads. Photog community? Where? And how would I ever see new & interesting post when the effing algorithm *completely* buries them all? IG is useless, threads gets zero traction, bluesky is most definitely not a place for art, not-twitter is naziland. That leaves FB, which is severely problematic and infuriating, but at least I can find and participate in photography and other communities I care about.
I hear you, Marc, and I agree, it's not easy. Have you tried Foto?
I just signed up. Will see how that goes. Fingers crossed.
Who knew needlepoint was so popular??
Looking forward to the video of your talk.
I remember a very, very long time ago when someone was explaining social media to me (a guru, I'm sure) and they said it was like a big cocktail party.
You walk in and you can stroll up to a group already engaged in a conversation. You add some value and the conversation grows. But if you walk up to a group chatting about food and someone says (loudly), "Hey, speaking of food, I have a restaurant and here's 25% off if you go today!" you're going to be bounced or at the very least ignored.
That was the old days. Today, the scroll is Food, Football, Photography, Funeral Homes, Fantasy Games roughly in that order.
The algorithm is good but that's where ads come in.
I don't know of a future where art is served by social media for more than 3.76 seconds.
The days of gallery walking are gone.
We, the Creatives, need to work to reset that narrative...if we can.
Thank you for this Andy! It is so great to read posts like this, and everyone's comments. You all put words to my intuition.
I stopped posting regularly on IG in 2022 without really knowing why. Slow quiting is the term nowdays. I am on other platforms, but the truth is I am tired of all algorithmic feeds (and apparently I am not the only one.)
Art deserves authentic connections, conversation and community. Perhaps Substack or Photo can rise to the occasion. We shall see. Cheers to all those who are being conscientious with their time online!
I still use Instagram to like and comment on posts, direct message contacts, and make the occasional post.
As a nude (non-explicit, non-sexual) photographer, sharing my work on social media is challenging because of censorship. In the past, Facebook banned me twice, both times for posting images with male nipples. There was no way to appeal.
So, in late 2018, rather than wasting my time battling with social media posts, I channeled my energy into publishing an artistic nude photography digital magazine to share my work freely and without censorship. I invited a few photographer friends to join me. And that’s how I got started. Seven years later, the magazine is still going strong, with 76 issues published. That’s over 4900 pages all produced by me, with contributions from around the world.
While I love seeing photos is print, the cost and logistics of producing a printed magazine are prohibitive, especially the cost of postage and issues with customs duty. So, I produce a print-ready PDF of every magazine that contributors can download and run off hard copies for personal and non-commercial use.
Oh yeah, being a top Art & Illustration newsletter creator is a BIG deal!! So deserved! Mazel tov Andy!
YES, I would LOVE to see photoblogging! Real photographers talking about THEIR work, their journey, intentions, experiences. THAT would be awesome!!
Let's create a PhotoBlogging community on Substack! Will help balance out the Nazis ... one can dream!
I love this idea! You may have just inspired me to take the plunge and finally start writing. Thank you! ✨️